February 14 – Moore’s Century | On This Football Day

February 14 – Moore’s Century

APPARENTLY some chap named Beckham has been causing something of a stir this week by winning his 108th England cap in Wednesday’s friendly mauling by Spain to equal Bobby Moore’s record for an English outfield player.

Cue endless debate ridiculous and pointless debate about whether Beckham can be compared to Moore, often involving people who never saw England’s only World Cup winning captain play.

Not that it really matters, Becks has been a good servant to his country and has worked hard to win back his place in the squad which, judging by his contribution against Spain, is entirely merited. He’s a good player and has had his moments for England, but he’s no Moore.

Today in 1973 Moore reached a milestone of his own when he pulled on the England shirt for the 100th time, becoming only the third player to achieve the feat after former captain Billy Wright and Bobby Charlton.

Fittingly for an important game personally for Moore, it was also an important one for England as they faced the auld enemy Scotland at Hampden Park in a fixture that is never really friendly despite the official designation of the match.

Joining Moore in the England team were Martin Peters and Alan Ball – the three of them were the only survivors from the 1966 team but they were overshadowed by some of the newer members of the squad as the Scots were swept aside 5-0 – one of the easiest days Moore would have marshaling the Three Lions defence.

Allan Clarke (2), Mick Channon, Martin Chivers and a Peter Lorimer own goal provided the goals for England in a crushing home defeat for a Scotland team that included the big guns of Billy Bremner, Kenny Dalglish and George Graham.

Despite the clean sheet Moore was nearing the end of his reign as England’s untouchable choice. Things came to a head three months later in a World Cup qualifier away to Poland when Moore was at fault for the two goals in a 2-0 loss.

Ramsey dropped him for the return leg at Wembley which England had to win to qualify for the finals. They could only draw 1-1 and it marked the beginning of the end for both Ramsey and Moore. Sir Alf was sacked six months later while Moore made his final England appearance in the next match – a friendly against Italy at Wembley. Again England lost, this time 1-0 to a goal scored by the man who has just ensured Beckham has equalled Moore’s record: Fabio Capello.

When he retired from the international game he held the all-time England cap record with 108 appearances (he has since been overtaken by Peter Shilton on 125), and he equalled Billy Wright’s record of captaining England 90 times.

Two months later he played his last game for West Ham and then left for Fulham where he began to wind down his career before, just as Beckham would 30 years later, he moved to the USA to play for San Antonio Thunder and Seattle Sounders. Moore was also on Beckham’s wavelength when it came to commercial opportunities although the advert featuring Bobby and Tina Moore ‘Looking in at the Local’ is not quite posing for Armani.

That’s all from us today but we’ll we back tomorrow with more. Until then, you can satisfy your need for banal historical football trivia by seeing what else happened on this day here.